Representative of the Shia Muslim Supreme Religious Authority and custodian of the Imam Hussain Shrine sheikh Abdul-Mehdi AlKarbala’ey delivered a speech in which he talked about the Arba’een pilgrimage and how it has acquired significant dimensions in the Islamic nation.

AlKarbala’ey said, “The planners of the Arba’een pilgrimage were the Ahlul-Bayet (Peace Be Upon Them),” noting that whatever the Ahlul-Bayet (Peace Be Upon Them) planned for was a divine plan.

He said further that the Ahlul-Bayet (Peace Be Upon Them) taught their Shia Muslims and followers the importance of the Arba’een pilgrimage and urged them to commemorate it even during ordeals, and therefore even grand clerics preserved it and practiced it.

He mentioned that studying the history of the Arba’een pilgrimage and what has been documented in recent years has proven that the Arba'een pilgrimage has reflected religious, educational, and ideological dimensions on the Islamic nation as well as reflecting on its sacrifice, cohesion, solidarity, and cooperation toward achieving the important objectives that preserve the Islamic nation and its strength and solidity against external challenges.

AlKarbala’ey noted that the Arba'een pilgrimage has also acquired global dimensions by attracting millions of people from all over the world who come to make a pilgrimage to Imam Hussain.

“A great deal of international media agencies and research centers have begun to talk about the Arba’een pilgrimage, for it epitomizes the world’s largest popular gathering,” AlKarbala’ey added further.

He pointed out that although the number of pilgrims matters, but the dimensions reflected on the Islamic nation and other countries are greater—it has made pilgrims embody the principles of the Hussainian revolution and reformation by showing generosity, hospitality, and benefaction towards one another.

AlKarbala’ey concluded, “One of the principles the Arba’een pilgrimage has signified is confronting the unjust and oppressive authority,” noting that the Arba’een pilgrimage has reinforced the sense of humanity that holy verses of the Noble Quran and the Prophet Mohammed and the Ahlul-Bayet (Peace Be Upon Them) asserted, as well as the principle of peaceful coexistence, love, entente, and harmony—away from discrimination; that’s seen during the Arba’een pilgrimage when people: old and young and rich and poor, of different nationalities gather as one human entity.